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Chosen Hill looking to take one step closer to Twickenham when they host Milton Keynes in the RFU Senior Vase

All Areas > Sport > Rugby Union

Author: Roger Jackson, Posted: Friday, 13th March 2020, 10:30

Chosen Hill are chasing a league and cup double Chosen Hill are chasing a league and cup double

Chosen Hill’s remarkable campaign could be about to get even better.

They’ve dominated Gloucestershire Premier this season – they’ve won all 17 of their games so far – and look certain to make a quick return to Western Counties North.

But they’ve also been enjoying a very good run in the RFU Senior Vase and tomorrow host Milton Keynes for a place in the last four of the national competition.

It’s a highly sought-after trophy, of course, made all the more attractive because the final will be played at Twickenham.

“I believe it’s the furthest we’ve got in the competition,” said Chosen Hill chairman Dan Yeates, who is in his first season in the role.

And the club would love to win a league and cup double in this season of all seasons because it is their 50th anniversary.

Not that Milton Keynes will be pushovers by any means. While Chosen Hill have been unstoppable in their division, Milton Keynes have enjoyed a pretty impressive campaign of their own in Berks, Bucks and Oxon Premier.

They have won 13 and drawn one of their 15 games and a couple of bonus-point wins from their games in hand on the two teams above them would catapult them into top spot.

“We’ve done a bit of homework on them but we’re not concentrating on them too much,” said Yeates, “we’re mainly concentrating on ourselves.

“They’re a town club and we’re a village club so they have got a bigger catchment but I’m hoping we’ve got enough in the tank.”

Yeates confirmed that experienced back row Tom Gyde will miss tomorrow’s game with a knee injury but said that otherwise Chosen Hill will be pretty much at full strength.

The Churchdown club won’t be short of supporters tomorrow and Yeates, a scrum-half who still turns out for the club’s 2nd XV, will be one of many cheering them on from the touchline.

“We haven’t got too many trophies to show for our 50 years,” he admitted, “but hopefully that is changing.

“We won a Combination cup a couple of years ago and this season we’ve won a County Cup and a South West Counties Cup along the way in this season’s RFU Senior Vase.”

They’d like to go all the way to Twickenham of course and a win tomorrow would leave them just 80 minutes away from a big day out at the home of English rugby.

Yeates, who is 33 today, will certainly enjoy a few beers on Saturday if Chosen Hill do overcome Milton Keynes.

But that won’t be the case for head coach Richard Planchant and his assistant Mark Peacey.

They took charge at Chosen Hill at the start of the season and from the outset, promotion has always been their priority.

“Anything else was a bonus,” explained Yeates, “and that’s still how the coaching staff see it.”

But that’s not the reason they won’t celebrate with the same gusto, should Chosen Hill win, as some others at the club.

“They can’t,” explained Yeates. “They coach Gloucestershire Under-20s and they’ve got a game against Devon on Sunday.”

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